Let's go back a year: at the end of 2020, after almost a year of a pandemic, many experts were of the opinion that inflation was (no longer) an issue.

Their argument: Although the central banks around the world have flooded the markets with enormous sums of money since the financial and euro crisis, i.e. for more than ten years, hardly anything has changed in the prices of goods and services.

The concern was not inflation but deflation.

Inflation, so the assumption at the time, would remain an outlier in world economic history - limited to the brief 20th century.

In the previous centuries, prices not only rose extremely slowly, but stagnated for a long time.

Rainer Hank

Freelance writer in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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So one can be mistaken.

The USA reports an inflation rate of 6.8 percent for 2021.

In the euro area it is just under 5 percent;

in Germany it was 5.3 percent in December.

You have to look back decades to find comparable rates of inflation.

For years, the ECB struggled to push inflation up to “close to two percent” because it considers this to be a prerequisite for stable prices.

And what does inflation do after a long slumber?

She does not stick to the goals of Mrs. Lagarde, but shoots more than twice as high.

Because a younger generation grew up without any experience of inflation, two simple questions should be inserted here: What is inflation?

And what's so bad about it?

The classic definition is: too much money meets too few goods.

Or, with Milton Friedman: "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon." Bad?

Sure, we can then afford less than before, and the savings balance shrink.

But assuming that our wages, pensions, stocks or real estate also become more expensive at the same time, that would be manageable.

A home or car loan even ends up paying off with less hassle if there is inflation.

As always, there are winners and losers

As always in life, there are winners and losers with inflation. But losses feel worse than gains, says behavioral economics. While people see rising salaries as a fair wage for their work, higher prices at the hairdresser's or in the car dealership appear to us to be cheeky arbitrariness. Anyone who expects everything to become more expensive prefers larger purchases and - unintentionally - only heats up inflation.

Will it be over soon?

Or will we have to live with inflation for a long time - in the worst case, with even higher price jumps?

The world of economics is divided.

Two teams have formed.

The optimists, let's call them that, gather under #TeamTransitory, the pessimists under #TeamPersistent.

Both teams send their best people into battle;

and unlike usual, for example, there are clever Keynesians in both teams.

I will summarize the most important arguments so that we can write down a score at the end.

Team Transitory makes reference to the pandemic

First “Team Transitory”.

There one refers to the pandemic.

As the pandemic passes, so will inflation as a result of it soon be over.

It is no wonder that there are currently delivery bottlenecks: If there are corona infections in the preliminary products for a German machine somewhere in Asia, production stalls and the producers cannot send the products on their way.

And that is precisely at a time when people are increasingly asking for goods instead of services, which is also a reason for higher energy prices.

The symbol for this are the Peloton exercise bikes, which are booming because the gyms have closed or visiting them is too risky.